Fairness in Water Quality: A Descriptive Approach

Muscle strength is important for firefighters work capacity. Laboratory tests used for measurements of muscle strength, however, are complicated, expensive and time consuming. The aims of the present study were to investigate correlations between physical capacity within commonly occurring and physically demanding firefighting work tasks and both laboratory and field tests in full time (N = 8) and part-time (N = 10) male firefighters and civilian men (N = 8) and women (N = 12), and also to give recommendations as to which field tests might be useful for evaluating firefighters' physical work capacity. Laboratory tests of isokinetic maximal (IM) and endurance (IE) muscle power and dynamic balance, field tests including maximal and endurance muscle performance, and simulated firefighting work tasks were performed. Correlations with work capacity were analyzed with Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rs). The highest significant (p<0.01) correlations with laboratory and field tests were for Cutting: IE trunk extension (rs = 0.72) and maximal hand grip strength (rs = 0.67), for Stairs: IE shoulder flexion (rs = −0.81) and barbell shoulder press (rs = −0.77), for Pulling: IE shoulder extension (rs= −0.82) and bench press (rs = −0.85), for Demolition: IE knee extension (rs = 0.75) and bench press (rs = 0.83), for Rescue: IE shoulder flexion (rs = −0.83) and bench press (rs = −0.82), and for the Terrain work task: IE trunk flexion (rs = −0.58) and upright barbell row (rs = −0.70). In conclusion, field tests may be used instead of laboratory tests. Maximal hand grip strength, bench press, chin ups, dips, upright barbell row, standing broad jump, and barbell shoulder press were strongly correlated (rs≥0.7) with work capacity and are therefore recommended for evaluating firefighters work capacity

Finite temperature properties of the two-dimensional SU(2) Kondo-necklace

We analyse several thermodynamic properties of the two-dimensional Kondo necklace using finite-temperature stochastic series expansion. In agreement with previous zero-temperature findings the model is shown to exhibit a quantum critical point (QCP), separating an antiferromagnetic from a paramagnetic dimerized state at a critical Kondo exchange-coupling strength $J_{c}\approx 1.4$. We evaluate the temperature dependent uniform and staggered structure factors as well as the uniform and staggered susceptibilities and the local 'impurity' susceptibility close to the QCP as well as in the ordered and quantum disordered phase. The crossover between the classical, renormalized classical, and quantum critical regime is analyzed as a function of temperature and Kondo coupling.Comment: 4.2 pages, 6 figure

Föreställningar om familjen på förskolan: språkets betydelse för en reproducering av den heteronormativa kärnfamiljen

Syftet med den här kandidatuppsatsen är att undersöka huruvida andra familjekonstellationer än den normativa kärnfamiljen är synliga på förskolan. Jag ville ta reda på hur pedagoger pratar med barnen om familjen och om andra familjekonstellationer än den traditionella heterosexuella kärnfamiljen är synliga i material på förskolan. Jag ville också undersöka om det finns en uppfattning om familj och sexualitet på förskolan som gör heterosexualiteten obligatorisk. Uppsatsen är skriven med en feministisk queer och poststrukturalistisk teoriram, och har därför central inriktning på hur språket har betydelse för vår förståelse. Min analys och diskussion bygger på fyra kvalitativa intervjuer med pedagoger i förskolan. Resultatet visade att kärnfamiljen fortfarande är norm i förskolan och att pedagoger använder sig av ”mamma, pappa, barn” när de pratar om familjen, med anledning av att det var så de flesta av barnens familjer såg ut. På förskolorna hos intervjupersonerna fanns det inte någon litteratur eller annat material som barn i en icke normativ familj kan känna igen sig i. Pedagogerna pratade inte heller om homo- eller bisexualitet, vare sig i arbetslaget eller med barnen. Om en sådan fråga uppstod diskuterades detta enskilt med barnet eller de barnen det berörde

Biosecurity level and health management practices in 60 Swedish farrow-to-finish herds

Background: Biosecurity measures are important tools to maintain animal health in pig herds. Within the MINAPIG project, whose overall aim is to evaluate strategies to raise pigs with less antimicrobial use, biosecurity was evaluated in medium to large farrow-to-finish pig herds in Sweden. In 60 farrow-to-finish herds with more than 100 sows, the biosecurity level was evaluated using a previously developed protocol (BioCheck). In a detailed questionnaire, internal and external biosecurity was scored in six subcategories each. An overall score for biosecurity was also provided. Information regarding production parameters as well as gender and educational level of personnel working with the pigs was also collected. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the recorded data.Results: The median scores for external and internal biosecurity were 68 and 59, respectively, where 0 indicates total absence of biosecurity and 100 means maximal possible biosecurity. The subcategories for external and internal biosecurity that had the highest scores were "Purchase of animals" (external) and "Nursery unit"/"Fattening unit" (internal), while "Feed, water and equipment supplies" (external) and "Measures between compartments and equipment"/"Cleaning and disinfection" (internal) received the lowest scores. A female caretaker in the farrowing unit, a farmer with fewer years of experience and more educated personnel were positively associated with higher scores for some of the external and internal subcategories. In herds with < 190 sows, fattening pigs were mixed between batches significantly more often than in larger herds.Conclusions: The herds in this study had a high level of external biosecurity, as well as good internal biosecurity. Strong biosecurity related to the purchase of animals, protocols for visitors, the use of all-in, all-out systems, and sanitary period between batches. Still, there is room for improvement in preventing both the introduction of disease to herds (external) and the spread of infections within herds (internal). Systems for animal transport can be improved and with respect to internal biosecurity, there is especially room for improvement regarding hygiene measures in and between compartments, as well as the staff's working procedures between different groups of pigs

Finnish Mathematics Teachers Talk about Restructuring Practice

The case study presented in this article addresses how five Finnish mathematics teachers, colleagues in a Swedish speaking teacher training school, talked about on-going restructuring of their teaching and learning practices in terms of experiences and expectations five months into an action research process that they initiated in the early 1990s. In this action research the teachers were the agents of change (Leder, 1989); I joined the process as an outsider researcher

Can we use meat inspection data for animal health and welfare surveillance?

Ante- and post-mortem inspections at abattoir were originally introduced to provide assurance that animal carcasses were fit for human consumption. However, findings at meat inspection can also represent a valuable source of information for animal health and welfare surveillance. Yet, before making secondary use of meat inspection data, it is important to assess that the same post-mortem findings get registered in a consistent way among official meat inspectors across abattoirs, so that the results are as much independent as possible from the abattoir where the inspection is performed. The most frequent findings at official meat inspections of pigs and beef cattle in Sweden were evaluated by means of variance partitioning to quantify the amount of variation in the probabilities of these findings due to abattoir and farm levels. Seven years of data (2012-2018) from 19 abattoirs were included in the study. The results showed that there was a very low variation between abattoirs for presence of liver parasites and abscesses, moderately low variation for pneumonia and greatest variation for injuries and nonspecific findings (e.g., other lesions). This general pattern of variation was similar for both species and implies that some post-mortem findings are consistently detected and so are a valuable source of epidemiological information for surveillance purposes. However, for those findings associated with higher variation, calibration and training activities of meat inspection staff are necessary to enable correct conclusions about the occurrence of pathological findings and for producers to experience an equivalent likelihood of deduction in payment (independent of abattoir)

Dairy cow longevity: Impact of animal health and farmers? investment decisions

A dairy farmer's decision to cull or keep dairy cows is likely a complex decision based on animal health and farm management practices. The present paper investigated the relationship between cow longevity and animal health, and between longevity and farm investments, while controlling for farm-sp ecific charac-teristics and animal management practices, by using Swedish dairy farm and production data for the period 2009 to 2018. We used the ordinary least square and unconditional quantile regression model to perform mean-based and heterogeneous-based analysis, re-spectively. Findings from the study indicate that, on average, animal health has a negative but insignificant effect on dairy herd longevity. This implies that cull-ing is predominantly done for other reasons than poor health status. Investment in farm infrastructure has a positive and significant effect on dairy herd longevity. The investment in farm infrastructure creates room for new or superior recruitment heifers without the need to cull existing dairy cows. Production variables that prolong dairy cow longevity include higher milk yield and an extended calving interval. Findings from this study imply that the relatively short longevity of dairy cows in Sweden compared with some dairy producing countries is not a result of problems with health and welfare. Rather, dairy cow longevity in Sweden hinges on the farmers' investment decisions, farm-specific characteristics and animal management practices